Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie

The massive structure you are approaching occupies the site of a former industrial giant. Before it became a center for scientific discovery, this land housed the enormous slaughterhouse complex of La Villette. By the early twentieth century, this site was the beating heart of Paris meat production, where as many as twenty-eight thousand animals were processed in a single day. The project to transform the site began after the slaughterhouses closed in the mid-seventies, eventually turning a sprawling industrial wasteland into the expansive public park and cultural hub you see today.